Local art dealers Reed Horth and Kat Barrow-Horth go ALL IN on Halloween with their son Ronan.
In a project they’ve dubbed HalloWEEK, every year they come up with seven amazing costumes, stage photo shoots, and design backdrops in Photoshop. They release the series a day at a time leading up to Halloween.
This year they’re all 1980s and 1990s — with some serious commitment.
First you’ve got Anchorman.
Next, Married with Children.
Then you’ve got Overboard.
OBVIOUSLY you’ve got November Rain. (Ronan did not like the wig one bit.)
Next there’s Kenny Rogers and The Gambler (Dolly Parton made an appearance too).
Then Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.
And you haven’t even seen the grand finale yet. That one comes out on Halloween on their blog. (We’ve seen it. You will want to check back for it.)
The husband and wife are fine art dealers who specialize in high-end 20th century masters like Warhol and Dali. Together they run Robin Rile Fine Art. That artistic flair is pretty evident in the costumes.
“It’s always been my favorite holiday, ever since I was a kid. I have kind of coerced Reed. He’s actually pliable enough and quite theatrical. He rarely will tell me no to anything,” says Kat.
Intense planning goes into HalloWEEK. Kat has an email she keeps in her draft folder that she updates with costume ideas all year long. Sometime in August the husband and wife take a look at the list and choose the seven best ideas out of about 25.
Then they start on the costumes. Vintage shops and Goodwill are their go-to places for things they don’t already have.
“I love costumes. I hand make most of mine. I love period films and anything that has to do with vintage clothing. It kind of all fits together,” Kat says.
It’s the wigs that they spare no expense on.
“I have probably 25 wigs. If our house is burning to the ground, I would have to grab computers, our dogs, the box of wigs — and our kid,” she adds.
That kid is now two and has been a part of HalloWEEK since was a couple days old and his parents drew eyebrows on him for a Charlie Brown-themed costume. Kat was so worried that he would be born on Halloween that she asked the doctor if it was possible to induce. The doctor said no way, but fortunately Ronan was born a few days early.
Four days after giving birth, Kat was in Jo-Ann Fabrics putting together seven days worth of baby costumes. Then he was pretty pliable.
“It’s definitely quite a challenge this year. He just turned two. Photographing a toddler and making him wear wigs is quite the challenge.”
Case in point:
“He sucks. He was screaming and we couldn’t do anything about it. He’s just screaming bloody murder,” Kat says. Reed adds, “When he gets older, he’ll either love us or hate us… Eventually he’ll have an album or a wall which will really show that his parents had fun together with him, were adventurous and weren’t afraid to take some risks and have some fun.”
This year took a particularly high level of commitment from Reed, who had to sacrifice his facial hair.
“Reed normally has a beard, quite a robust beard. We’ve been together almost 11 years. I’ve never seen him without facial hair before… he actually made the commitment this year to shave, but he’s had to do it in stages because different photos require different stages of facial hair,” Kat says.
The first costume was Kenny Rogers. He kept all his hair, but spraypainted it gray. Then came Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so he shaved it down to a handlebar mustache and mutton chops. Then there was Anchorman, for which he needed only a mustache. The last few require him to be cleanshaven.
“I didn’t want to go halfway on this and have her photoshop facial hair off my face,” Reed said.
Kat adds: “It went in this weird order. I didn’t see him without a beard, I saw him with a handlebar mustache first. It was kind of a gross transition. But good gross.”
You can see HalloWEEK 2015 photos on their blog. They’re as good as this years, we promise.